COVETED CRAFT PAGE 20

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Crafted NWT

Alberta Craft Discovery Gallery - Edmonton June 10 - July 31, 2021 (exhibition dates affected by mandated closures of galleries)

John Sabourin, Yellowknife, NWT Wolf Stalking, BC Chlorite sculpture. 19 x 39 x 8 cm

Over the past two years the Alberta Craft Council has worked in collaboration with Johanna Tiemessen, Manager of Arts and Fine Crafts from NWT Arts to bring a collection of craft from NWT artists to Alberta audiences with the feature exhibition Crafted NWT. NWT arts is a marketing initiative that promotes its artists as part of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment with the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The NWT is currently developing a Craft Council and we welcome the new organization and northern artists to the network of Provincial and Territorial Craft Councils, and look forward to ongoing collaborations. Today, NWT craftspeople honour the historical connection of craft with story. Without an explanation, someone looking at an object is unlikely to know it’s story. The craftsperson is the story keeper who shares traditional and modern-day stories through their work. This enables us to carry the story further. The artwork travels with its story. And, in a territory with a transient population, NWT craft allows us to share our NWT stories across the globe. Much NWT craft is grounded in tradition and heritage and tells the stories of a rich and powerful culture. Some NWT crafts simply tell the stories of beauty or effort. This focus on the story, the maker and the materials, is what differentiates craft from art for many. The Craft Council of NWT (craftcouncilnwt.ca) was formed in 2020 as a vehicle to explore these differences and build a community of craft storytellers around the NWT. Members range from professional crafts people to “crafty families” who use their family craft time to pass on traditions and share family stories. Their connection is the joy and appreciation of making things by hand; of imbuing the materials with thoughts, feelings and of course, stories.

The NWT Arts Program is a marketing and promotional program run by the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Program helps all artists of the NWT share their work and tell their stories. The NWT Arts website (nwtarts.com) connects our remote communities with art appreciators and buyers around the world. This support, in particular, helps traditional crafters realize economic benefit from their work and their stories, enabling them to sustain a cultural lifestyle.

The Conjunction of NWT Craft and Story

JANET DEAN, Craft Council NWT

In the NWT, craft and story are permanently intertwined. The stories of history are commemorated, retold, rewoven and sometimes even unwoven today. Stories give the endless stream of time – a beginning, middle and end – thus filling our world with purpose. But stories need a place to live, otherwise they are lost, forgotten. Before there were books, there were legends, before there were legends there was life. Craft was embedded in our traditional ways of life – the story of family and relationship sewn into garments and the joys of childhood carved into toys and dolls. The safety and security of home in how lamps were formed. Craft was our material, our manipulations AND our intentions.

April Glaicar, Hay River, NWT Tucho Textures, reversible necklace and earrings Hand-cut formed and carved silver, hand-dyed whitefish vertebrae barrel beads glass spacer beads, sterling silver chain

Cheryl Thomas Yellowknife, NWT Bounty wool, caribou antler, grouse feathers, leather strapping 12 x 31 x 22 cm Marie Kotchea, Fort Liard, NWT Small Berry Birchbark Basket, sewn and cut in patterns. Layers of Birchbark, dyed porcupine quills and white spruce root, 12.7 x 12.7x 15.2 cm